


Seeing Stars

by buttons_n_bose



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Cute, Domestic, Drawing, F/M, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, Late Night Conversations, Modern Era, Sketching, Stargazing, jatherine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-11 19:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20158591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttons_n_bose/pseuds/buttons_n_bose
Summary: Jack and Katherine stargaze in the backyard, and the young artist gets distracted





	Seeing Stars

Jack fumbled through the blades of grass for Katherine’s hand. He could feel her looking at him, but he didn’t turn his head. He kept staring straight up, drawing his own constellations amongst the glistening stars.

“What’re you thinking?” Katherine asked him.

“That I shoulda been an astrologist in three-hundred B.C. so I could make my own constellations,” he answered.

She laughed. “A true artist.”

“You name them, then, if you’re so clever.”

“Well, that’s the big dipper.” Katherine pointed out the constellation, shifting closer to Jack so he could follow her finger. “That’s the little dipper there, and that one over there is Orion. You can tell because of his belt.”

“C’mon, everyone knows those.” He pushed her finger to a random point in the sky. “What’s that one?”

“Well, not all constellations are visible all the time…”

Jack laughed. “You have no idea, do you?”

Katherine couldn’t help but laugh, too. “Shut up. Neither do you.”

“Yeah, but I’m not the brains of this relationship.”

“And thank God for that.” Katherine turned her head and kissed him.

“More hot chocolate?” Jack asked when they pulled apart.

Katherine smiled and handed him her cup. “What a gentleman.”

He grabbed his own and headed inside his house, setting the kettle on the stove. He looked out the window as he waited for the water to boil, watching Katherine as she lay on her back and stared up at the stars. She was beautiful, he thought, and he was so lucky to call her his.

When the water finished, he mixed it with hot chocolate packets in each mug. He grabbed his sketchpad and a pencil on his way out the door.

He placed the mugs on the ground and sat next to Katherine, pencil poised above the paper. He wanted to capture her beauty in this moment, the wonder in her eyes, the innocence in her smile, the freedom in her relaxation.

“What’re you drawing?” she asked, perching up on her elbow to see.

Jack angled the sketchpad against his chest so she couldn’t see. “It’s a surprise. Tell me about your day.”

“Nothing special happened.”

“You’re a reporter, babe. There’s always something special happening.”

“Okay, well...oh, actually, there’s this funny thing that happened, I mean, maybe it wasn’t that funny, you probably had to be there, but it was funny at the time, so basically, my deskmate was an hour late but he brought pastries to make up for it…”

Jack was listening, mostly. Usually he listened to music whenever he drew or painted, but lately he liked to listen to Katherine while he worked. He remembered things better if his hands were doing something. The other day, he’d wished Katherine good luck on her meeting, which she was sure he’d forgotten about. So now whenever she told him about what happened each day at work, it was usually while he worked on his next commissioned piece.

“And then it turned out he was allergic to peanuts, not almonds, and he’d used his EpiPen for nothing!” Her laughter made Jack smile, and she tried not steal another peek at his sketch.

“Not yet!” he insisted. “Tell me another story.”

She rolled her eyes and lay back down. “Okay, well during my lunch break…”

By the time Jack had finished, Katherine had told him even the most boring parts of her day, and she was getting restless. “Let me see!” she demanded. “As your girlfriend, I have the right to see.”

“Are you sure you’re ready? May I suggest mentally prepare yourself?” Jack mockingly demonstrated taking a few deep breaths, breaking off into laughter as Katherine squealed in frustration and pulled the sketchpad from his grasp.

“Oh my God,” she breathed, lips stretching into a smile. “Jack, it’s…”

“Do you like it?” Jack asked.

“Of course.” Her eyes scanned over the page, taking in every line, every shadow, every detail. “It’s beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful,” said Jack.

“Careful,” Katherine warned, “you’re starting to sound cheesy.”

“I’m okay with sounding cheesy for you,” he admitted, leaning closer for a kiss.

“I’m not sure I’m okay with it,” she joked, leaning away.

“Shut up.” Jack pushed her back against the soft grass and leaned over her, pressing their lips together. Katherine giggled into the kiss, wrapping her hands around the back of his neck.

“I love you,” Jack whispered in the quiet of the night.

“I love you, too,” Katherine replied, pushing Jack’s hair out of his eyes.

They lay side-by-side again, the folded sketch resting on Katherine’s stomach and their mugs of hot chocolate growing colder as the two thought of names for their own constellations.


End file.
